


Much Ado About Paper

by Woad



Category: Marvel (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Cap_Ironman Bingo, Cap_Ironman Tiny Reverse Bang, Community: cap_ironman, Fluff, M/M, Shakespeare makes everything better, hug and fly, inadvertent declarations of love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-06
Updated: 2015-08-06
Packaged: 2018-04-13 05:51:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4510266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Woad/pseuds/Woad
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony teases Steve about being in a play.</p>
<p>Tiny RB code Flying</p>
            </blockquote>





	Much Ado About Paper

**Author's Note:**

> For [Tiny Reverse Bang code Flying](http://capim-tinybang.tumblr.com/post/125587740570/title-treasure-artist-ssyn3-link-to-tumblr) by ssyn3, and for the bingo square "Hug-and-Fly"

“You’re playing Benedick?” The incredulous grin on Tony’s face was warning enough that things were not going to go well for Steve. “I will ignore the obvious joke, because the irony of this is humorous enough.”

Save for the two of them, the tower was quiet. It was about to become even more so, as Tony lounged on the couch in a blue t-shirt, a boxy meter on the coffee table running pre-flight output checks on his boots and gauntlets. Steve, meanwhile, was at the bar, munching on a simple sandwich before heading out for the afternoon.

Steve had assumed, incorrectly, that the engineer was still sleeping off one of his all-nighters. If he had known Tony would come strolling in to the common room, start laughing, and demand justification for his wardrobe, the soldier would have just skipped lunch…and breakfast.

To be fair, Steve would probably want an explanation too, if he were to find Tony in an almost-but-not-quite poet’s style shirt instead of his familiar dressed-down techie chic. But admitting to Tony that he was in a production of _Much Ado About Nothing_ had taken a bad situation and made it worse.

“Why do you sound so surprised?” Steve fiddled with the lacing on his shirt. It wasn’t a dress rehearsal — their production didn’t even have a set yet — but Steve wanted something to help him slip into character.

“That you managed to audition for and _win_ the role of a womanizing bachelor?” Tony asked, strapping on one of his repulsor boots. He shook his head. “That’s a role tailored for me, not someone of your moral fiber.”

“It’s called acting.” And the sooner he escaped and got to practice, the better. Contrary to Tony's assumption, he hadn't won anything. Steve had been asked to take the role. And while he was nervous, he'd been assured it was for charity — no acting experience required.

That didn't mean he was taking it lightly. Steve pulled a folded list of lines from his pocket and scanned it briefly, making sure he had written down the ones he had had trouble with the night before.

"Acting?" Tony smirked, "I’ll believe it when I see it.”

“I can get you tickets—“ The thrill of calling Tony’s bluff lasted moments. Just long enough for the satisfaction to give way to horror. The ramifications of his proposition sank claws into Steve's gut. “Though it’s probably less ritzy than you’re used to. It’s not even in the same league as Off-Off Broadway.” In point of fact, they were practicing in a high school cafeteria.

“What, and miss the chance to see you flub a line?” Tony’s dark eyebrows rose playfully as he strapped on his gauntlets. “I’m sold.”

Steve glared at him. “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

That earned Steve a roll of brown eyes. “Lighten up. Here—" Tony’s repulsors flared to life, a bright luminous blue. He moved fast — faster than Steve was prepared for, snatching the folded paper out of his hands. “I’ll help you practice.”

Steve felt his heart jump to his throat. “No, wait—" He grabbed for the paper, but Tony shot away across the room, holding it out and taunting him.

“Now, now,” Tony hovered, making a show of snapping his wrist and eying the paper. “Eidetic memory is occasionally useful. Let’s see, the cue for this one would be…” he pitched his voice into a falsetto, mocking a woman’s timbre. “ _I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a man swear he loves me._ ”

Steve felt his heart twist, both at those words and the expectant look Tony gave him. _Please stop reading. Please…_

“No?” Tony glanced down at the paper again. “How about this, then: _what men daily do, not knowing what they do!_ ”

“Tony—“ Steve warned, reaching out again for the paper, pleading.

Tony _tsked_ him and looked down again. And Steve knew the instant that he’d read it, handwritten in Steve’s own neat script. In that instant the line came to the soldier, clarion and perfect: _I do love nothing in the world so well as you: is not that strange?_

And Steve could see the note beneath that in his mind's eye, damning in its frankness. _Imagine like telling Tony._

The silence grew between them, agonizing and horrible. When Tony finally locked eyes with Steve, they were bright like a deer’s in the night. “I’m sorry I didn’t realize—“

“I didn’t expect you to—“ Steve grit his teeth and took the paper back from the stunned engineer with a jerky movement.

Tony shut his eyes, brows furrowed for a moment. “No,” he said. When he opened his brown eyes again, there was nothing but determination behind them. “I’m sorry I didn’t realize how you felt sooner. Can I—can I begin to make it up to you?”

Steve’s world felt like it had been switched into reverse. In the instant Tony had stolen the paper, he’d envisioned hundreds of reactions. But not this. All he managed to get out in answer was, “What?”

Tony fidgeted, landing and shifting his weight from one repulsor boot to the other. Then he seemed to make up his mind, holding out one arm. “Come on, you’re probably running late, sitting around here and talking to me. Let me get you to practice in style.”

He probably should have said no. But instead, Steve found himself allowing Tony’s gauntleted hand to wrap around his waist, secure and comforting. And the way Tony drew him close, pressing them hip to hip was oh-so-intimate.

Steve felt his toes begin to lift from the ground, his weight being transferred to his arm and the gauntlet on Tony’s arm.

“Okay?” Tony asked, watching as Steve adjusted to floating a few inches above the ground.

Steve nodded, heart hammering in his chest, more from the proximity to Tony than flight. “More than okay.”

Tony flashed him a grin. A thrill shot from Steve’s toes to scalp as Tony took him out of the tower and onto the overlook. Below, the city throbbed with the rhythm of a Monday afternoon. He felt very small knowing Tony was the only thing keeping him from plunging head first into empty space.

“Do you trust me?”

Steve just nodded.

Tony gave him a wink, still in just his workshop clothes, the gauntlets, and boots — practically the definition of naked confidence. “Then let’s get you to rehearsal. Seems like you really need it.”

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Paper Bullets of the Brain (An Off-Off Broadway Remix)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6064645) by [Lilian_Cho](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lilian_Cho/pseuds/Lilian_Cho)




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